Injury limits lone Rutgers athlete at NCAAs

Senior Gabrielle Farquharson was sidelined for most of the NCAA meet after suffering a hamstring injury after her second long jump. Farquharson still finished as a Second Team All-American for the 2015 indoor season.

Even in a sky crowded with the darkest of clouds, sunlight can peak through.

The darkness overcame Rutgers senior sprinter Gabrielle Farquharson’s otherwise luminous indoor season at the 2015 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on March 13.

The Scarlet Knight, who went to the championships scheduled to compete in the long jump and the 200-meter dash, suffered a hamstring injury on her second jump attempt. As a result, Farquharson could not complete her jump attempts and was forced to scratch from the 200-meter semifinals.

Struggling to walk after the injury, the Knight finished in 16th place with her first attempt distance of 5.54 meters (18 feet and 2.5 inches).

Despite the negativity brought about by the injury, sunlight irrepressibly broke through.

Farquharson earned Second Team All-American status in the long jump, which comes on top of an already historic 2015 indoor season, punctuated with top performances.

“It’s just an untimely and unfortunate injury. It was still a great experience that she was able to see the highest level of competition in collegiate athletics and know that she belongs in that field,” said head coach James Robinson. “She took away that she has established herself as one of the lead athletes in the country. It’s her first time qualifying for nationals indoor, and it’s her first time doing it as an individual, so there are lots of positives in it even though it’s a negative situation.”

This is Farquharson’s third All-American distinction, as she earned Second Team All-American with the 4x100-meter relay team and Honorable Mention All-American with the 4x400-meter relay team at the 2013 NCAA Outdoor Championships.

Within the 2015 indoor season alone, the senior has helped to spread the Rutgers name throughout the record books.

Farquharson captured her first Big Ten title in the 200-meter dash at the indoor conference championships where she clocked in at 23.50 seconds. She reset the Knights' indoor record for the event three times throughout the season.

She also ranks 11th nationally in the long jump and finished second in the Big Ten by a slim .01-meter margin with her personal record of 6.36 meters (20 feet and 10.5 inches).

Additionally, Farquharson sits third in the Big Ten for the 60-meter dash after setting another school record in the event with her time of 7.38 seconds. With the bronze medal performance, she clocked in .02 seconds behind the Big Ten Champion and just .002 behind the runner-up.

Though adversity is unavoidable and her quest fell short, Farquharson can look back on an extraordinarily successful season.

With plans to redshirt for the 2015 outdoor season, the NCAA Championships conclude Farquharson’s memorable winter season. The Rutgers runner will now take time to recover from her injury so that she can start to gear up for next fall.

Armed with the confidence of her accomplishments thus far, September is should bring an exciting array of opportunities for Farquharson to further her multifaceted success with the hopes of returning to the NCAA Championships for retribution.

“Now she has to come back, and she knows she can do it,” Robinson said. “It’s not a goal just to get there anymore, it’s an expectation that she’s going to be there — its now about what she’s going to do there.”

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